Guild Wars 2

Jon Peters just said on WTS stream that Elemental Attunement is becoming a minor trait. I assume it’s in Arcana. I think it’s better than what we have now, but still think it would deserve to be a baseline, this will force eles in Arcana again. Overall, I’m happy they changed their minds. He said they made a lot changes there since the preview.

It better only apply to allies or something, otherwise between ele attune and ele contingency it will be possible to essentially have 50-75% prot up time.

Apply only to allies? Don’t we have enough of those traits in water magic?

Thank for the news Laraley!

I encourage everyone to just take the “wait and see” approach from now. Let’s see what’s the whole package look like, and how’s Tempest before we discuss further.

Apparently, there have been a lot of changes to the arcana trait line. Let’s wait and see.

Thank you for sharing. While this is certainly an upgrade over their prior proposal, and will probably get lower durations on a lot of the boons, it still pigeon-holes us into arcana (because it gives the best defense in terms of vigor + prot + cleanses/binds) and water (it either gives all the needed cleanse, or one of the best damage lines if you are dps). It is good to see that there are more people working on this than the one guy who is totally lost.

If only they would communicate with us here on the forums ….

BlackBeard.2873:

Thank you for sharing. While this is certainly an upgrade over their prior proposal, and will probably get lower durations on a lot of the boons, it still pigeon-holes us into arcana (because it gives the best defense in terms of vigor + prot + cleanses/binds) and water (it either gives all the needed cleanse, or one of the best damage lines if you are dps). It is good to see that there are more people working on this than the one guy who is totally lost.

I feel the same. I hope they didn’t nerf the durations too much, because they might as well made it a baseline. I also hope there will be some traits in the master slot worth taking now.

Personally I’m glad it’s not baseline. Though I fully support EAttunement being a minor!

BlackBeard.2873:

Thank you for sharing. While this is certainly an upgrade over their prior proposal, and will probably get lower durations on a lot of the boons, it still pigeon-holes us into arcana (because it gives the best defense in terms of vigor + prot + cleanses/binds) and water (it either gives all the needed cleanse, or one of the best damage lines if you are dps). It is good to see that there are more people working on this than the one guy who is totally lost.

You guys are amazing! First you were complaining that Arcana was too strong. So some trait lines received buffs (like Fire Magic with the 3s ICD Blinding Ashes, which looks pretty strong), and then you complained that Arcana was too weak. Now they are rebuffing it, and you still complain!

We should wait and see. And maybe think about complaining once we know everything.

Sorel.4870:

BlackBeard.2873:

Thank you for sharing. While this is certainly an upgrade over their prior proposal, and will probably get lower durations on a lot of the boons, it still pigeon-holes us into arcana (because it gives the best defense in terms of vigor + prot + cleanses/binds) and water (it either gives all the needed cleanse, or one of the best damage lines if you are dps). It is good to see that there are more people working on this than the one guy who is totally lost.

You guys are amazing! First you were complaining that Arcana was too strong. So some trait lines received buffs (like Fire Magic with the 3s ICD Blinding Ashes, which looks pretty strong), and then you complained that Arcana was too weak. Now they are rebuffing it, and you still complain!

We should wait and see. And maybe think about complaining once we know everything.

That’s not the point. Everyone was fine with how EA used to be. If they want to buff it, then I would prefer if they did it the way many players asked for. To create some wider build diversity, elementalist really need to stop being forced into these specific trait lines just to survive. And I said I’m happy they listened partly at least, but with ANet it’s very rarely when they listen fully. It’s just speculations, they said there are big changes for Arcana, so it might be whatever, but there’s no reason why people shouldn’t be able to discuss things.

Also, I don’t blame anyone who doesn’t believe in ANet after the proposed changes.

Sorel.4870:

BlackBeard.2873:

Thank you for sharing. While this is certainly an upgrade over their prior proposal, and will probably get lower durations on a lot of the boons, it still pigeon-holes us into arcana (because it gives the best defense in terms of vigor + prot + cleanses/binds) and water (it either gives all the needed cleanse, or one of the best damage lines if you are dps). It is good to see that there are more people working on this than the one guy who is totally lost.

You guys are amazing! First you were complaining that Arcana was too strong. So some trait lines received buffs (like Fire Magic with the 3s ICD Blinding Ashes, which looks pretty strong), and then you complained that Arcana was too weak. Now they are rebuffing it, and you still complain!

We should wait and see. And maybe think about complaining once we know everything.

Hahaha, I know what you are saying and don’t want to sound like a spoiled child, but instead just be real. Honestly, EA should be baseline in some reduced capacity (even if arcana automatically brings it up to current/max capability) because, even if it competed with evasive arcana, the traitline would be mandatory. As it is, this change prevents them from just completely breaking the class (as in even Water/Arcana/X builds can’t compete with other classes), which is great.

If the truly wanted to liberate the class from NEEDING arcana, they would have to baseline some of its capabilities so it is a real choice. The best comparison is mesmers with illusionary persona. If that trait isn’t baseline, every mesmer build basically has to take the trait-line or it is lacks base-defense and functionality.

So we’ll get elemental attunement when we select the arcana line, makes sense, else everyone would just take earth instead.

Earth will give you protection on aura, and Arcane will give you protection on earth attunement.

Water-Earth-Arcana eles will probably be bunkered enough for the melee train.

I’m do ask myself what we will lose in return for this change, if they touch arcane precision…I’ll go Ape kitten on the forums..I swear, like arcane precision is off limit.

Half the reason to go arcana is for that minor trait alone, now my fears are rising…

Supreme.3164:

I’m do ask myself what we will lose in return for this change, if they touch arcane precision…I’ll go Ape kitten on the forums..I swear, like arcane precision is off limit.

Half the reason to go arcana is for that minor trait alone, now my fears are rising…

You can’t be serious.

Supreme.3164:

I’m do ask myself what we will lose in return for this change, if they touch arcane precision…I’ll go Ape kitten on the forums..I swear, like arcane precision is off limit.

Half the reason to go arcana is for that minor trait alone, now my fears are rising…

A trait that proc on 10% of a critical hit? You miss that?
Let’s say you have 30% crit chance, 10% of a critical hit is 3%. That’s 3% chance on attack to proc 1 sec of burning, that causes 500 damage.

I don’t miss that trait at all, it’s worse than the adept minor.

Apologies, I meant to say :arcane fury

Supreme.3164:

Apologies, I meant to say :arcane fury

Ye, 2 sec of fury on 10 sec cd would be a horrible trait to lose.

Laraley.7695:

Supreme.3164:

Apologies, I meant to say :arcane fury

Ye, 2 sec of fury on 10 sec cd would be a horrible trait to lose.

Ye…it’d be good to lose arcane fury to keep lingering elements and arcane precision…-_-

Supreme.3164:

Laraley.7695:

Supreme.3164:

Apologies, I meant to say :arcane fury

Ye, 2 sec of fury on 10 sec cd would be a horrible trait to lose.

Ye…it’d be good to lose arcane fury to keep lingering elements and arcane precision…-_-

No one said they removing any of those. But saying you would lose your mind over losing roughly 2-3% dps increase…well, your priorities are strange.

(Squeals like little girl)
Ele is saved! Praise the Six, the Spirits, the Eternal Alchemy, and the Pale Tree!

Cecilia.5179:

(Squeals like little girl)
Ele is saved! Praise the Six, the Spirits, the Eternal Alchemy, and the Pale Tree!

Inb4 they remove all good traits and replace them with downstate and aura traits. Enjoy!

Increased crit chance on massive attacks ( fire grab,churning earth, comet [lightning rod], lightning strike and others) it’s not a mere 2-3% dmg increase in my books.

Changing attunement while landing fire grab for ex, the increased crit chance can make the difference between 2k dmg and a 3-4k dmg hit, that’s way more than 2-3% dmg increase don’t you think?

Then there is higher chance to trigger renewing stamina on top, when you have over 25% crit dmg I don’t see how a 20% increase in crit chance can be seen as a 2-3% dmg difference.

But where did you see the CD on arcane fury?

Laraley.7695:

Cecilia.5179:

(Squeals like little girl)
Ele is saved! Praise the Six, the Spirits, the Eternal Alchemy, and the Pale Tree!

Inb4 they remove all good traits and replace them with downstate and aura traits. Enjoy!

I have too much faith in the many Guild Wars 2 gods to accept the reality of that.

Supreme.3164:

Increased crit chance on massive attacks ( fire grab,churning earth, comet [lightning rod], lightning strike and others) it’s not a mere 2-3% dmg increase in my books.

Changing attunement while landing fire grab for ex, the increased crit chance can make the difference between 2k dmg and a 3-4k dmg hit, that’s way more than 2-3% dmg increase don’t you think?

Then there is higher chance to trigger renewing stamina on top, when you have over 25% crit dmg I don’t see how a 20% increase in crit chance can be seen as a 2-3% dmg difference.

But where did you see the CD on arcane fury?

I wrote it wrong. What I mean is that you have 10 sec cd on attunements, therefore you cannot be swapping freely. It could be probably more, but then again it’s two seconds and in a fight you might not be able to benefit from the fury each time, which is the case. With thieves and pack runes around, I would assume it gets overwritten A LOT.

Cecilia.5179:

Laraley.7695:

Cecilia.5179:

(Squeals like little girl)
Ele is saved! Praise the Six, the Spirits, the Eternal Alchemy, and the Pale Tree!

Inb4 they remove all good traits and replace them with downstate and aura traits. Enjoy!

I have too much faith in the many Guild Wars 2 gods to accept the reality of that.

We’ll will see what will be lost, what will go to justify this change… I pray, the price we’ll pay won’t be too high, they may well nerf some other trait in another trait line “to justify” moving EA from GM to minor, we may end up in a worst state

Supreme.3164:

Cecilia.5179:

Laraley.7695:

Cecilia.5179:

(Squeals like little girl)
Ele is saved! Praise the Six, the Spirits, the Eternal Alchemy, and the Pale Tree!

Inb4 they remove all good traits and replace them with downstate and aura traits. Enjoy!

I have too much faith in the many Guild Wars 2 gods to accept the reality of that.

We’ll will see what will be lost, what will go to justify this change… I pray, the price we’ll pay won’t be too high, they may well nerf some other trait in another trait line “to justify” moving EA from GM to minor, we may end up in a worst state

I’m more concerned about what they replaced Elemental Attunement with.

Laraley.7695:

Supreme.3164:

Increased crit chance on massive attacks ( fire grab,churning earth, comet [lightning rod], lightning strike and others) it’s not a mere 2-3% dmg increase in my books.

Changing attunement while landing fire grab for ex, the increased crit chance can make the difference between 2k dmg and a 3-4k dmg hit, that’s way more than 2-3% dmg increase don’t you think?

Then there is higher chance to trigger renewing stamina on top, when you have over 25% crit dmg I don’t see how a 20% increase in crit chance can be seen as a 2-3% dmg difference.

But where did you see the CD on arcane fury?

I wrote it wrong. What I mean is that you have 10 sec cd on attunements, therefore you cannot be swapping freely. It could be probably more, but then again it’s two seconds and in a fight you might not be able to benefit from the fury each time, which is the case. With thieves and pack runes around, I would assume it gets overwritten A LOT.

I had already a vision for the ele with the upcoming, not optimal but it was something, with this change nobody can say what will be lost, but…I can guarantee you that ele sustain will get a hit regardless, that was the whole idea behind the change initially and now I’m afraid that these still unknown changes will bring an even worst nerf to ele sustain…just a feeling

Laraley.7695:

Supreme.3164:

Cecilia.5179:

Laraley.7695:

Cecilia.5179:

(Squeals like little girl)
Ele is saved! Praise the Six, the Spirits, the Eternal Alchemy, and the Pale Tree!

Inb4 they remove all good traits and replace them with downstate and aura traits. Enjoy!

I have too much faith in the many Guild Wars 2 gods to accept the reality of that.

We’ll will see what will be lost, what will go to justify this change… I pray, the price we’ll pay won’t be too high, they may well nerf some other trait in another trait line “to justify” moving EA from GM to minor, we may end up in a worst state

I’m more concerned about what they replaced Elemental Attunement with.

They want to nerf ele sustain…so you’re right being concerned..who wouldn’t be

I think that if there is any catch involved with this change, it will be the frequently mentioned “Make it apply to self only” nerf, but I actually believe that there will be no change, as the main reason to run Arcana has always been to pick up the 2 EA’s and Renewing Stamina.

Supreme.3164:

I’m do ask myself what we will lose in return for this change, if they touch arcane precision…I’ll go Ape kitten on the forums..I swear, like arcane precision is off limit.

Half the reason to go arcana is for that minor trait alone, now my fears are rising…

lol

Cecilia.5179:

I think that if there is any catch involved with this change, it will be the frequently mentioned “Make it apply to self only” nerf, but I actually believe that there will be no change, as the main reason to run Arcana has always been to pick up the 2 EA’s and Renewing Stamina.

I think the worst option would be to put selfish EA as a minor trait and a major GM trait would make it aoe. Then, elementalist would be still forced into Arcana and still lose the support it needs if it wants to compete with shoutbow. It would make a sense, they need to come up with a new trait for a GM slot. And we would still be stuck with useless master traits.

Cecilia.5179:

Laraley.7695:

Cecilia.5179:

(Squeals like little girl)
Ele is saved! Praise the Six, the Spirits, the Eternal Alchemy, and the Pale Tree!

Inb4 they remove all good traits and replace them with downstate and aura traits. Enjoy!

I have too much faith in the many Guild Wars 2 gods to accept the reality of that.

Even Kormir?

Laraley.7695:

Cecilia.5179:

I think that if there is any catch involved with this change, it will be the frequently mentioned “Make it apply to self only” nerf, but I actually believe that there will be no change, as the main reason to run Arcana has always been to pick up the 2 EA’s and Renewing Stamina.

I think the worst option would be to put selfish EA as a minor trait and a major GM trait would make it aoe. Then, elementalist would be still forced into Arcana and still lose the support it needs if it wants to compete with shoutbow. It would make a sense, they need to come up with a new trait for a GM slot. And we would still be stuck with useless master traits.

Don’t worry people!!! Lyssa’s avatar on earth ( Robert gee our Lord and savior cough cough) won’t let anything that bad happen to any class! A nerf to the duration might happen but I’m sure Robert won’t allow anyone to mess up his balance ideas by nerfing anyone too hard. If anything the best way to nerf tank eles and the cele meta is to add more boon rip to the game which, by making necromancer more viable would occur.

Phew, was afraid I wouldn’t get to play with my lovely Evasive Arcana. Really good change.

Phantaram.4816:

Phew, was afraid I wouldn’t get to play with my lovely Evasive Arcana. Really good change.

Hello phanta!!!

Sadrien.3470:

Laraley.7695:

Cecilia.5179:

I think that if there is any catch involved with this change, it will be the frequently mentioned “Make it apply to self only” nerf, but I actually believe that there will be no change, as the main reason to run Arcana has always been to pick up the 2 EA’s and Renewing Stamina.

I think the worst option would be to put selfish EA as a minor trait and a major GM trait would make it aoe. Then, elementalist would be still forced into Arcana and still lose the support it needs if it wants to compete with shoutbow. It would make a sense, they need to come up with a new trait for a GM slot. And we would still be stuck with useless master traits.

Don’t worry people!!! Lyssa’s avatar on earth ( Robert gee our Lord and savior cough cough) won’t let anything that bad happen to any class! A nerf to the duration might happen but I’m sure Robert won’t allow anyone to mess up his balance ideas by nerfing anyone too hard. If anything the best way to nerf tank eles and the cele meta is to add more boon rip to the game which, by making necromancer more viable would occur.

Karlmir is in charge of eles.

dietzero.3514:

Sadrien.3470:

Laraley.7695:

Cecilia.5179:

I think that if there is any catch involved with this change, it will be the frequently mentioned “Make it apply to self only” nerf, but I actually believe that there will be no change, as the main reason to run Arcana has always been to pick up the 2 EA’s and Renewing Stamina.

I think the worst option would be to put selfish EA as a minor trait and a major GM trait would make it aoe. Then, elementalist would be still forced into Arcana and still lose the support it needs if it wants to compete with shoutbow. It would make a sense, they need to come up with a new trait for a GM slot. And we would still be stuck with useless master traits.

Don’t worry people!!! Lyssa’s avatar on earth ( Robert gee our Lord and savior cough cough) won’t let anything that bad happen to any class! A nerf to the duration might happen but I’m sure Robert won’t allow anyone to mess up his balance ideas by nerfing anyone too hard. If anything the best way to nerf tank eles and the cele meta is to add more boon rip to the game which, by making necromancer more viable would occur.

Karlmir is in charge of eles.

You obviously didn’t get that I’m saying Robert will talk sense into karl because Robert is the Lord and savior of game balance and this nerf would make him have to rework his entire conceptual class dynamics system.

Sadrien.3470:

dietzero.3514:

Sadrien.3470:

Laraley.7695:

Cecilia.5179:

I think that if there is any catch involved with this change, it will be the frequently mentioned “Make it apply to self only” nerf, but I actually believe that there will be no change, as the main reason to run Arcana has always been to pick up the 2 EA’s and Renewing Stamina.

I think the worst option would be to put selfish EA as a minor trait and a major GM trait would make it aoe. Then, elementalist would be still forced into Arcana and still lose the support it needs if it wants to compete with shoutbow. It would make a sense, they need to come up with a new trait for a GM slot. And we would still be stuck with useless master traits.

Don’t worry people!!! Lyssa’s avatar on earth ( Robert gee our Lord and savior cough cough) won’t let anything that bad happen to any class! A nerf to the duration might happen but I’m sure Robert won’t allow anyone to mess up his balance ideas by nerfing anyone too hard. If anything the best way to nerf tank eles and the cele meta is to add more boon rip to the game which, by making necromancer more viable would occur.

Karlmir is in charge of eles.

You obviously didn’t get that I’m saying Robert will talk sense into karl because Robert is the Lord and savior of game balance and this nerf would make him have to rework his entire conceptual class dynamics system.

#iwanttobelieveinrobert

PlatinumMember.5274:

Sadrien.3470:

dietzero.3514:

Sadrien.3470:

Laraley.7695:

Cecilia.5179:

I think that if there is any catch involved with this change, it will be the frequently mentioned “Make it apply to self only” nerf, but I actually believe that there will be no change, as the main reason to run Arcana has always been to pick up the 2 EA’s and Renewing Stamina.

I think the worst option would be to put selfish EA as a minor trait and a major GM trait would make it aoe. Then, elementalist would be still forced into Arcana and still lose the support it needs if it wants to compete with shoutbow. It would make a sense, they need to come up with a new trait for a GM slot. And we would still be stuck with useless master traits.

Don’t worry people!!! Lyssa’s avatar on earth ( Robert gee our Lord and savior cough cough) won’t let anything that bad happen to any class! A nerf to the duration might happen but I’m sure Robert won’t allow anyone to mess up his balance ideas by nerfing anyone too hard. If anything the best way to nerf tank eles and the cele meta is to add more boon rip to the game which, by making necromancer more viable would occur.

Karlmir is in charge of eles.

You obviously didn’t get that I’m saying Robert will talk sense into karl because Robert is the Lord and savior of game balance and this nerf would make him have to rework his entire conceptual class dynamics system.

#iwanttobelieveinrobert

#robertwillfixit

Supreme.3164:

Cecilia.5179:

Laraley.7695:

Cecilia.5179:

(Squeals like little girl)
Ele is saved! Praise the Six, the Spirits, the Eternal Alchemy, and the Pale Tree!

Inb4 they remove all good traits and replace them with downstate and aura traits. Enjoy!

I have too much faith in the many Guild Wars 2 gods to accept the reality of that.

We’ll will see what will be lost, what will go to justify this change… I pray, the price we’ll pay won’t be too high, they may well nerf some other trait in another trait line “to justify” moving EA from GM to minor, we may end up in a worst state

This. Something will have to be nerfed or moved around in exchange, so once again anyone not playing the d/d faceroll bunker build will be out of luck.

Though I guess moving from a 0/0/2/6/6 build to a 0/0/6/6/6 build is going to be too much for a lot of people, so maybe it is for the best, dont want to change a lot at once or all hell will break loose.

Sizer.5632:

Supreme.3164:

Cecilia.5179:

Laraley.7695:

Cecilia.5179:

(Squeals like little girl)
Ele is saved! Praise the Six, the Spirits, the Eternal Alchemy, and the Pale Tree!

Inb4 they remove all good traits and replace them with downstate and aura traits. Enjoy!

I have too much faith in the many Guild Wars 2 gods to accept the reality of that.

We’ll will see what will be lost, what will go to justify this change… I pray, the price we’ll pay won’t be too high, they may well nerf some other trait in another trait line “to justify” moving EA from GM to minor, we may end up in a worst state

This. Something will have to be nerfed or moved around in exchange, so once again anyone not playing the d/d faceroll bunker build will be out of luck.

Though I guess moving from a 0/0/2/6/6 build to a 0/0/6/6/6 build is going to be too much for a lot of people, so maybe it is for the best, dont want to change a lot at once or all hell will break loose.

Case1) They swap geomancer defense with rock solid

Case2) They swap arcane fury with elemental attunement ( buffing arcane fury)

In case 2, we would still be losing something important

Stop spectaculating guys. Wait and see.

`Im glad they changed their minds, but the main problem with ele is boons and healing has always been the main thing to help ele survive which is why people have been forced into the arcana and water traitline with every successful build.
I believe the best way to fix this would be to make elemental attunement a baseline attun swap bonus, but make it so the boons are only given to the ele, not allies. Then keep the elemental attunement trait as a master trait, and make it give those same boons to allies as well so some support builds would still be encouraged to use it.

Though if this does happen I think the healing from evasive arcana and healing ripple should be nerfed a bit. Aside from how pidgeon holed eles build diversity is the amount of sustain ele has now is a bit crazy for a light armor class

sirrrock.7940:

`Im glad they changed their minds, but the main problem with ele is boons and healing has always been the main thing to help ele survive which is why people have been forced into the arcana and water traitline with every successful build.
I believe the best way to fix this would be to make elemental attunement a baseline attun swap bonus, but make it so the boons are only given to the ele, not allies. Then keep the elemental attunement trait as a master trait, and make it give those same boons to allies as well so some support builds would still be encouraged to use it.

Though if this does happen I think the healing from evasive arcana and healing ripple should be nerfed a bit. Aside from how pidgeon holed eles build diversity is the amount of sustain ele has now is a bit crazy for a light armor class

The problem is you would also be nerfing the supportive side of ele, this is really not the solution. Besides, I don’t think that after the trait change ele will be super tanky seeing as mesmer and thief got insane buffs that will help their damage a lot. Ele has to trait everything for support and survival to be sort of viable and it’s really difficult to see a way from there. I’m afraid they just put EA as a minor selfish trait but added a new one that will make it aoe as a GM trait. That’s just from horrible to bad.

The current state of ele is pretty sad, lots of the traits need a complete revamp, scepter needs changes, lots of utilites, too. They have to change a lot to stop forcing players into the same traits and skills. One option would be to make tempest power based and actually good, so elementalist has some choice.

So what would your solution be. I agree ele does need alot of changes… though their focus seems to be moreso engie for whatever reason. The thing is it would be amazing if they actually did make elemental attunement a baseline thing but im pretty sure thats not going to happen, we’ve been asking for that as long as I can remember with no success. Ele mainly needs to get some type of consistent way to sustain itself that doesnt have to be traited into. Guard has blocks and high armor, thief has stealth and evades, ele has…. decent healing in water attun which gets bursted down being a low hp, low armor class

sirrrock.7940:

Snip

Part I
First step would be indeed making Elemental Attunement a baseline. The problem with ele is the fact it has the lowest hp and armour pool AND it depends on healing. You have very little ways of mitigating the potential damage unless you trait for protection on earth, which still worse than for example Blurred frenzy or stealth since protection can be stolen/removed/corrupted. The fact they think you should trait for this and put it as a GM trait makes me feel like they do not understand how difficult it is to play without these traits. Such a squishy class shouldn’t be revolved around healing, but rather avoiding the damage.

There are several ways to fix this, but many of them seem rather crazy such as increasing the hp pool, removing cd from attunements…

What they need to do is simply improve the base defensive mechanisms of ele, while removing/nerfing/reworking traits that improve only ele’s defense, such as Geomancer’s defense, Stone heart…Ele cannot really afford losing more support traits (Evasive Arcana, Healing Ripple, Elemental Attunement…etc.).

The problem is that self healing of celestial ele is a bit too high, but it doesn’t bring as much support as shoutbow. The radius of all heals is rather a joke, it doesn’t have banner and it’s more vulnerable to burst despite of all healing. The issue is that nerfing ele sustain while not touching the support is has is tricky.

Cantrip Mastery just should be a baseline. There is no justification for those skills having such high cooldowns. Armour of earth is on 75 cd cooldown while you get 6 sec of prot and stab (without boon duration) that can be countered by single steal/shatter/corrupt boon. Mistform is again 75 sec cooldown while you cannot use your skills and it lasts 3 seconds. Compare it to Distortion, which can be up to 4 seconds on 47 seconds cd traited AND you can use all your skills. Same goes for lightning flash/Blink. Making it a baseline would mean other builds could pick up some cantrips while not being forced into water and you know…just because it’s dumb for cantrips to have such high cooldowns.

For other builds to be viable, there are things that need to happen:
1. Ele needs to get boon hate, it’s such an important thing for a dps spec to have. I would say this is very likely since they hinted this could happen.
2. It needs to have at least one on demand interrupt. Both comet and gale have quite long cast times and it’s VERY difficult to time the interrupt right seeing as lots skills worth interrupting have lower cast time than the cc skills.
3. Stealth. This would help ele gameplay so much. Obviously it wouldn’t have as much access to stealth as thief, but one or two abilites that would allow you to stealth and disengage would help tons. Fresh air has bascially no way of leaving a fight if fgs is on cd.
4. Rework to scepter. All AA’s on scepter are bad, Dragon’s tooth is still not ground targeted, shatterstone is still not worth casting and rockbarrier still have 1 sec cast time.
5. Actually having good skills on sword (or a different weapon depending if it’s really sword, hopefully not offhand). It’s crucial to have good autoattacks, without that the spec will just become the same fresh air is now. Nice burst but bad sustain damage. Just look at Spatial Surge or thief dagger chain and compare it to Flamestrike, Stone Shards…
6. Teleports. Once ele is out of cooldowns (50, 75 sec), it’s gonna have a bad time in a fight. There should be ways of getting out of AoE kitten that don’t have such high cooldowns. I would say this is likely, sword is really asking for teleports. Also, Arcane shield should be on 60 sec cd.
7. Rework on focus would be nice, too. Fire shield is just a joke and Freezing Gust is not really that useful either.

Not all of these things need to happen, but if ele gets none, it just won’t have any viable dps specs.

sirrrock.7940:

Snip

Part II

Currently, fresh air is the only dps spec that can be played in ranked/unranked, but not in top tier has many issues, too.

1. It needs to get rid of all the instant bullkitten. It can help the damage, but the whole spec cannot revolve around damage only from air attunement. Lower the damage of this, move it somewhere else. Like buffing AA’s would be an idea. Put an icon on the boon bar that it’s off cooldown, allow a counterplay and don’t make this spec depend on attuning to air.
2. It needs to stop having to trait for survability, too. Thief, mesmer and necro do not need to trait for survability as much as fresh air. You can obviously play 66002, but against at least a bit competent team you’ll be having a really bad time compared to thief for example.
3. Needs more utility. The only thing you can offer to your team is projectile deflect. You have no stealth, no boon hate, no moa or potal. You also don’t have such good interrupts.

In general elementalist needs to stop having such a mess in traits. Having damage modifiers in water while having to be stuck with Aquatic benevolence is silly. There needs to be rework on many minor traits: Zephyr’s Speed, Lingering Elements, Arcane Precision, Sunspot.

There is a lot that needs to be changed on ele, but it’s not impossible. I still have some faith in the elite spec, so hopefully that will last.

These are great points you’ve made, and I agree with almost all of them. Honestly I cant really see them giving stealth to the class but having alot more teleports would be pretty crucial with how squishy ele is, and as you said even completely relying on boons as a baseline to negate damage isnt that reliable with all the boon hate other classes have. At the same time, the healing portion of the class would need to be taken down a bit, because then ele would be impossible to kill porting away, healing up then jumping back into the fight. (which was the problem anet had with rtl)

Scepter definitely needs some work, there is no other weapon set in the game that depends on a certain trait as much as scepter depends on fresh air. Like you said, they should nerf the instant damage skills and trait that is uncounterable and buff the autoattacks. Then make dragon tooth, and shatterstone easier to hit, or change them into a entirely new more reliable dps skill

Laraley.7695:

Part I
First step would be indeed making Elemental Attunement a baseline. The problem with ele is the fact it has the lower hp and armour pool AND it depends on healing. You have very little ways of mitigating the potential damage unless you trait for protection on earth, which still worse than for example Blurred frenzy or stealth since protection can be stolen/removed/corrupted. The fact they think you should trait for this and put it as a GM trait makes me feel like they do not understand how difficult it is to play without these traits. Such a squishy class shouldn’t be revolved around healing, but rather avoiding the damage.

There are several ways to fix this, but many of them seem rather crazy such as increasing the hp pool, removing cd from attunements…

What they need to do is simply improve the base defensive mechanisms of ele, while removing/nerfing/reworking traits that improve only ele’s defense, such as Geomancer’s defense, Stone heart…Ele cannot really afford losing more support traits (Evasive Arcana, Healing Ripple, Elemental Attunement…etc.).

To me this is the core issue with the class. Baseline survivability is too low, so everyone who wants to be competitive in PVP/WVW specs defence (cantrips) and sustain (arcane/water).

If a trait/trait-line is chosen in 90+% of competitive PVP/WVW builds, then it’s no longer a choice and probably should be nerfed or made baseline. I’d argue strongly that EAtt is fundamental to Ele survival/sustain and core to the feel of how Ele plays, to such an extent that making a solo version of it baseline is the only practical way to go, with a trait in arcane for the AOE version.